Mad Max Power Wheels is the Only Way to Do Halloween

The point of Halloween is for children to collect as much candy as humanly possible in the short time allotted by grown-ups for trick-or-treating. This is usually just a few hours and, to be most efficient, a child needs a set of wheels. This Mad Max Power Wheels conversion is the best, coolest, most fantastic way to make the most of that trick-or-treating window of opportunity.

Much like the cars seen in Mad Max: Fury Road, this wondrous creation has been cobbled together from bits of other vehicles. Cory and Jeremy Newton-Smith built if from a second-hand Power Wheels Jeep Wrangler and a Barbie Jeep. There’s something perfectly wrong and perfectly right about a bright pink Barbie Jeep turning into this thing.

They added cardboard bits and paint to make it look straight out of the movie, but there’s more. A bit of engineering makes it drive, well, not like it’s out of the movie, but better than your average Power Wheels vehicle.

There are two Arduino Nanos, one for controlling the car and one for the audio along with all four motors from both of the original Jeeps. Steering comes courtesy of two Hitec HS-805BB servos and there’s a keyed ignition from an electric scooter.

The sound comes from a VS1053-based MP3 board they found on ebay with output through a 2-channel amp and speakers. There’s even an air horn cable so the kids can warn everyone to get out of the darn way. Since kids are also prone to running people over on a whim in these things, there’s an iPhone override so mom and dad can steal all the fun and drive remotely.

They connected the throttle and forward/reverse switches to a smooth start throttle and added a throttle speed limit. This has two motors more than the average Power Wheels so keeping that initial torque under control and speed to something reasonable made it safe for the kids.

The finishing touch is, of course, the two adorable kids. Cooper is Mad Max while his little sister, Ziggy, is Imperator Furiosa.

This isn’t the first time these parents have made an amazing Halloween vehicle for their kids. Cooper has also fought ghosts in the Ghostbusters Ecto-1…

gone Back to the Future in a DeLorean…

and saved E.T. from those nefarious government types.

The project goes beyond making cool cars for the kids on Halloween. Jeremy is a part of the 2016 CYCLE Kids Boston Marathon team, in hopes of inspiring kids to be healthy and active. Each year, CYCLE Kids provides schools with programs to guide kids toward academic success and a healthy lifestyle. You can support Jeremy’s efforts by making a donation to his fundraising page.